byo iPad programme for grade 1 - any other schools doing same?

[MimsyStarr]

DS is 6 and the school is about to introduce a byo iPad programme in grade 1. His Dad and I are not keen on him having his first individual device just yet. We were thinking they would just be using class sets for a couple of years yet!

We are in Australia, and can't find anything about other schools here doing BYO iPad at that age. How about in the U.K?

I am a retired TA, but when I was last in a school, only school computers, networks, and interactive whiteboards were used. iPads and suchlike were totally new then; a teenager on the bus showed me hers, but it was certainly not 'mainstream' at that time.

Personally, I think the longer young children can be kept away from exposure to 'personal screens' the better, but obviously technology will continue to advance, and will become more and more part of everyday life, like it or not.

[As an amusing aside: the last school I worked in, as a volunteer, was in a small market town in Devon, England, and was built in 1859. One of the Governors, having a good 'clear out' in an unused storeroom, came across educational items from the Victorian era, which included a small 'slate', which pupils would have used to write on!]

Thanks Ferguson. Yes I knew we would have to get one for DS while at primary (and we do have one at home that i have sight word apps on) just was not expecting it so soon.

He still can't write very well and had OT last year to help with pencil grip and hand strength.

I like your story about the slate. IT slang for tablets seems to include calling them "slates", I found when reading review sites when I bought mine! The irony!

So you have to buy an iPad for your six year old as a school requirement? Is it a private school? Here, if a school requires pupils to have a tablet, the school will provide the device, and I'be only really heard of that being done for much older children, or with a class set.

Never heard of that in the UK. There's no way most people could afford to buy an iPad for their child to take to school and there are all sorts of issues with security, maintenance, damage protection.

Even in a private school, you would expect the school to buy class sets.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2696051/Parents-fury-school-asks-pay-400-buy-iPad-child.html

www.theguardian.com/education/2013/jul/28/ipad-tablet-computer-school-parents

Yes we thought so too. Yes it is a private school. I thought they had class sets.

We've been told which case, keyboard to buy and told to buy apple insurance, like that solves all the problems.

I would have liked the school to give parents an option but none was mentioned. Some parents have pushed back but doesn't seem to be an opt out. There has been mention if you can't afford it, something will be worked out, but our objection is not simply based on cost. Its more he is too young for a personal iPad. I thought as a parent that would be our decision.

I don't mind a few hours a week on class sets, but this is a big leap from that for grade 1.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-15872583.

Thanks mrz for those links. I wouldn't bat an eyelid if asked to buy one for secondary, like in that first link.

So far no one has heard of grade 1 having this sort of thing.

The school said they introduced halfway through last year for the previous class. I have asked what evaluation has been done on the programme and no evaluation yet. Surely a formal evaluation should be underway for something involving children this young, and to evaluate properly they should have had a control group for comparison?

It doesn't feel right.

My DD is in a private school where every child from year 1 to 6 has their own iPad supplied by the school.
I am astounded by their technically ability in producing professional looking ebooks, presentations and movies.
Last week my DD was in charge of editing the class contributions for assembly. She edited three shirt films, added music, integrated slides and voice overs producing an 15 minute presentation.

There has been research into the use of mobile devices. For example the acre netbook project. There are learning benefits, however the cost is huge for the schools.

Many schools have inadequate wifi that cost thousands to upgrade. The cost of replacing network switches to cope with increased traffic, re cabling and configuration of networks can be major cost teachers don't think about. Children often run into problems when they fail to recharge the battery. There are huge child protection issues with children having personal devices. (Admitally these issues exist anyway as secondary kids all have mobile phones.) I haven't even mentioned devices being lost, broken or stolen.

I can see benefit for older children having their own device. A tablet can negate the need to have lots of heavy textbooks. A sixth former should have the maturity to look after the device.

Thanks Tired and Lone Cat. I will read up about the acre project.

Lone cat, are the iPads theirs to bring home, in grade 1?

The presentation and movies sound great. I guess my thoughts are, how necessary is that in the very early grades, and also that could be done on class sets.

We have to buy them a laptop in grade 4. I would rather they used class sets until then.

Thanks everyone for the info. .

It's the norm where I live (Melbourne) although our school don't have them.

In government schools there is the expectation that you will provide what is asked for by the schools and there are finance schemes that don't require credit checks so everyone can get one. I know this as my friends school introduced them and she couldn't afford one and couldn't get credit either.

I think it's a terrible idea, both from a teaching point of view and as a parent.

www.rangeview.vic.edu.au/page/105/ICT-@-Rangeview

Here is a school that has introduced them for preps this year.

There are wonderful things that you can do on an ipad but I don't like the fact that people are put in a position where there child has to have an ipad of their own. It's a big responsibility for a start.

Of course, it does give them something to put into the enormous bag!

Doing presentations and movies on an IPad are piss easy to do.My dc taught themselves to do it at home.I'd be mighty annoyed if previous teaching time was wasted on it in school.

www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/Education/article1381987.ece

www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2012/09/11/the-school-that-swapped-its-laptops-for-ipads-and-wants-to-switch-back

They are theirs to bring home.
They have been given the apps to do the presentations and learnt how to use them through trial and error.
They are an unusual school (4 MFLs by the end of year 6) and teaching about as far from traditional as you can get with lots of independent research from a very early age to produce presentations and posters etc.

The same applies in stare schools ... The iPads are the child's to take home and use the apps/ programmes to support learning.

The new curriculum doesn't focus on skills such as presentations (let's face it most kids know their way round ICT) but on writing their own programmes and designing their own apps etc

Thanks savoy for the link re the school in Victoria - it's good that it is clearly an optional programme. And they allow iPad minis, a bit cheaper.

Mrz that link from pcpro article words were greyed out for some reason but I could read the comments and they were very interesting.

I would love DS to write code when he's older, maybe he can write a smash hit app and I can retire early . Don't think him waiting til grade 4 for his own laptop will make much difference there.

New UK curriculum introduces coding from age 5 ... So watch this space

They can't be serious.

I think it is totally unnecessary to have every child buy their own iPad to bring into school, especially at primary age.

Yes, coding is now a big part of the computing curriculum - but tht is only one subject area, and tbh at KS1 lot of the coding curriculum can actually be done off screen entirely. Obviously it is far more interesting and far more engaging to do it on screen - but the school only needs a set of computers or a set of tablets to do this - and for them to be shared use throughout the school.

I lead Computing at my school. We have 30 ipads (2 sets of 15) and 15 computers in the ICT suite. I teach almost all the computing at the moment and we do a lot of coding/computer science work.

I do teach some coding on the iPads, but I could get away with not doing so. There are free websites /software downloads to do it all on the computers - and most primary schools do have at least one class set (1 between 2) of computers or laptops which are timetabled between classes.

There is no way I would be recommending every child in my school to have their own personal tablet to bring into school every day - the logistics would be a nightmare.

mimsyStarr - teaching coding from the start is not an issue, honestly. I teach the basics right from EYFS and hve done since before the new curriculum was introduced. The coding aspect is not an issue here, it is the expectation that the school is placing on parents to by their own iPad.

The op is not in the UK though and there are expectations that you pay for the things that the school requires. From a pencil right through to an ipad.

Once I taught in a school with a women's refuge in its catchment and the other teachers thought I was overly dedicated when they found I was illegally photocopying another child's work book so that a new boy in my class would have some work to do.